Aukus, regional security likely topics on agenda for li visit
Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit New Zealand this week, the first visit of its kind since former Premier Li Keqiang in 2017.
Li will receive a ceremonial welcome in Wellington to be followed by bilateral talks with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and an official dinner. He will also visit Auckland.
Li will face a very different agenda to his predecessor.
Luxon yesterday confirmed the Aukus agreement and New Zealand’s possible involvement in the non-nuclear pillar 2 of the deal would likely be on the agenda, as would security in the Indo-Pacific.
Li will find a Government propped up by two parties that have taken hawkish positions on issues close to China’s heart. Foreign Minister Winston Peters told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi this year he did not believe the security concerns Aukus was designed to respond to were “imaginary”, as asserted by China.
Meanwhile, the Act Party drove the 2021 effort to have Parliament declare its grave concerns at the “severe human rights abuses” occurring in Xinjiang.
The party’s Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Brooke van Velden tried to have the statement’s wording go even further, labelling the situation in Xinjiang a “genocide”.
Luxon said he looked forward to “warmly welcoming” Li to New Zealand.
The visit is a valuable opportunity for exchanges on areas of co-operation between New Zealand and China.
“China is New Zealand’s largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth almost $38 billion last year. From innovative agri-tech and highquality food, to creative industries, and world class tourism and education, New Zealand has a lot to offer China,” he said.
Luxon talked up the trade focus of talks, saying he was “confident that trade with China will continue to grow, supporting the Government’s goal to double the value of exports in the next decade”.
However, when asked whether he would be comfortable with the share of trade with China increasing, given risks of economic coercion, he said this would be “challenging” given China’s slowing economic growth rate, however he said trade would continue to grow.
Premier Li’s visit marks 10 years since the conclusion of the New Zealand China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014.